The team played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.

MSU defeated Mount Saint Mary's and Ole Miss to advance to their second straight Sweet Sixteen.

3 in the country, but were without starting point guard and team captain, Cleaves, who sustained a stress fracture in his right foot during the offseason.

In Puerto Rico, they defeated Providence[5] and South Carolina to advance to the championship of the tournament.

[9] MSU returned to East Lansing for easy wins over Howard[10] and Eastern Michigan.

[13] MSU sandwiched home wins over Oakland[14] and Mississippi Valley State[15] around a loss on the road to unranked Kentucky.

[16] A shocking loss on the road at Wright State added to the early season struggles and ended the non-conference slate.

[23] In Ann Arbor, MSU faced the Wolverines as Michigan was without leading scorer Jamal Crawford who was declared ineligible 20 minutes before the game started because of NCAA investigations.

[24] Led by Morris Peterson's 32 points and 10 rebounds, MSU had no problems with Michigan, winning by 20.

[25] MSU returned to the Big Ten to face Purdue in West Lafayette and were upset, falling 70–67.

MSU earned a share of the Big Ten regular season title with Ohio State, their third consecutive championship.

[37][38] MSU continued their national championship push by reaching their second consecutive Final Four with wins over Syracuse[39][40] and Iowa State.

In their Final Four matchup, Michigan State faced off against fellow Big Ten foe, Wisconsin, beating them in a hard-fought game, 53–41.

[43] In the national championship game, the Spartans triumphed over the Florida 89–76, despite losing Cleaves to an ankle injury 3:42 into the second half.

[44] Cleaves eventually returned, severely limping and in obvious pain, to lead the Spartans to the championship.

Joining Cleaves on the NCAA All-Tournament Team were Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, and A.J.